Mexico’s IFT to create 5G Committee

In light of the economic generative potential that 5G stands to offer the Mexican economy, the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) is looking to promote the development of this network by creating a committee of industry stakeholders to encourage collaboration and competition.

For its 2021-2025 roadmap, the body aims to play an active regulator role and promote technology applications, explained IFT Commissioner, Javier Juarez Mojica, during the MediaTek Mobile Latam Congress. The creation of the proposed committee looks to satisfy this by bringing participants “under the idea that non-binding recommendations be issued to analyze the cases of use, and even (review) if the assignment of a certain spectrum is required for a specific application to develop,” said the commissioner.

Furthermore, this group of experts will also be tasked with analyzing and formulating recommendations for the regulation and bidding process of this technology. A possible starting point would be the designation of segment 6425-7125MHz for services of 5G communication as proposed by GSMA in Latin America, Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei and ZTE to the IFT. This, however, goes against IFT intentions to declare the entire 6 GHz band a free spectrum.

The commissioner made to a point of clarifying that IFT’s perspectives and contributions are not seeking to influence company investments related to network infrastructure, but rather to identify potential barriers and ensure the effective deployment of 5G technology throughout the country.

Finally, the commissioner touched on the economic and cross-cutting impact this technology stands to make. “The pandemic has highlighted the relevance of telecommunications and digital transformation. We cannot keep the tools we currently have, such as terrestrial television or radio. We cannot afford not to promote this technology (5G), we would be less competitive with the rest of the world,” Juárez Mojica added.

As data consumption grows with demand, which is expected to swell five to eight times over the next five years in Latin America, telecommunications companies are positioned to make a sizable profit. More specifically, in Mexico, early projections indicate that 5G applications stand to add US$740 billion to the country’s manufacturing sector by 2030, one of its most robust and competitive sectors. In the energy sector, 5G would allow producers to increase efficiency whilst cutting carbon emissions. Overall, there is a growing understanding of what this technology means for the economy and the country’s development.